The Laws of Survival

At this moment, Yang Mu had no particular thoughts; he simply pulled the rope with mechanical precision, halting when he had lifted Chu Hong to within half a meter of the rooftop. He secured the rope around a wooden beam at the corner of the building, then hurried back to the rooftop edge to peer down.

The hunter zombie was indeed below, able to jump more than two meters high, but reaching Chu Hong was impossible given that they were on the third floor.

"You're awake quickly enough. Fortunately, I pulled you up in time; otherwise, you'd have lost your rear to the zombies."

"You're such a bad guy; pull me up!"

"Stay put, it's safer this way. The zombies below can't reach you, and even if there were zombies on the roof, they wouldn't be able to touch you... I've placed you in such a secure position. Despite the fact that you've treated me like a demon, I'm repaying malice with kindness. I've done my utmost."

"You're going to abandon me!"

"Well, you're lucky. I'm trapped, so I brought you up to the roof to keep you from being eaten by the hunter zombie."

"But you need to get me up! Please."

Chu Hong stopped shouting and began pleading, her softer approach indicating a certain wisdom in assessing her situation.

Ignoring her pleas for a minute, Yang Mu took out his phone and called Wen Sijia. The phone rang for a long time with no answer.

Was she in danger, or was she simply ignoring him?

"Useless fool, what good is overthinking?"

Yang Mu hung up and began to assess the current situation.

"Yang Mu, get me up and help me escape. When we find Sijia, I'll help you pursue her, okay?"

Chu Hong finally proposed a constructive suggestion.

"You want to help me pursue my lawful wife? Hmph, do you think you're needed for that?"

"You know, Sijia is proud and looks down on someone like you. I can help you with her!"

"And how do you propose to do that?"

"I… I'll drug her and send you to her bed! Make sure to consummate it!"

Yang Mu was momentarily stunned before bursting into laughter.

"That's quite a method, but it's too cruel to Wen Sijia. Truly, plastic sisterhood... Hmph, Yang Da Ge wouldn't demean himself to such actions. Still, I suppose keeping you around might be useful."

"Yes, yes!"

"Here's the deal: you first help me deal with the hunter zombie below, and then I'll consider whether to bring you along."

"How do we deal with it?"

Chu Hong was a bit confused, but Yang Mu had already started his actions.

He adjusted the rope's position and began to lower Chu Hong slowly.

"Ah! Yang Mu! You're such a bad person, what are you doing? No, no, pull me up!"

Chu Hong, terrified, saw the hunter zombie sensing her proximity and becoming excited, jumping repeatedly.

Yang Mu carefully lowered the rope until it was about four meters from the ground.

The hunter zombie, stretching its arms and jumping, was only ten centimeters away from Chu Hong's bottom, and her current position was just beside a second-floor window.

He tied the rope securely to a metal column, cut off the excess length of the rope with tiles, leaving about three and a half meters.

He fashioned a noose with this rope and descended.

Upon reaching the second-floor room and opening the window, Yang Mu saw that the hunter zombie was persistently jumping up, while Chu Hong was crying and gasping.

Yang Mu remained calm, adjusted his breathing, and seized the opportunity to act.

The timing was perfect!

As the zombie jumped, he quickly looped the rope around its neck and tightened it swiftly. Yang Mu released some of the rope and pulled back, causing the zombie to slam against the wall, its limbs flailing and body convulsing.

He secured the other end of the rope to a bedpost and looked out the window.

The hunter zombie, hanging a meter above the ground, was now powerless.

The strategy had worked splendidly. Yang Mu snapped his fingers with excitement!

"Yang Mu! I'm scared, I... I need to urinate."

Chu Hong, her voice almost gone, was pleading weakly.

Yang Mu frowned. Was she so frightened she had lost control of her bladder?

He quickly returned to the rooftop and pulled Chu Hong up.

"Well done, you drew the zombies' attention and allowed me to subdue it. In the future, you may accompany me, provided I can ensure my own safety, understand?"

"I can't hold it anymore, woo woo."

Chu Hong looked quite pitiable. Yang Mu felt a twinge of guilt, but there was no other choice. Using Chu Hong as bait was the best option; standing at the second-floor window was extremely dangerous, as the hunter zombie could have jumped in.

"You can relieve yourself on the rooftop. I'll go downstairs to fix the door. We need to prevent the zombies from entering this courtyard, so we can temporarily evade them and find another way out."

With that, Yang Mu left, glancing back as he descended from the rooftop. Chu Hong had managed to stand up, her legs trembling, her hands clutching at her revealing underwear.

Yang Mu looked away and searched the room below, quickly finding a hammer, nails, and usable wooden planks. He went to the courtyard and nailed the damaged door shut.

Looking back, the hunter zombie was still hanging, and after some hesitation, Yang Mu retrieved a ladder from the courtyard and placed it next to the zombie. He then fetched an axe and climbed up.

Despite his preparation, Yang Mu was still nervous. After all, zombies still resembled humans.

However, during his long journey of growth, Yang Mu had learned a crucial survival rule: some things, no matter how arduous, must be done to ensure survival.

Finding the optimal position, he swung the axe at the hunter zombie's head.

Once, twice, three times!

In the end, Yang Mu lost count of how many blows he struck. The zombie's legs stopped moving, its head smashed and deformed, no longer able to hold onto the rope. Its body fell to the ground, becoming a true corpse.

"Ah..."

Yang Mu slowly descended the ladder, still catching his breath.

It wasn't particularly tiring; the real challenge was the stress. He had never feared fighting, but taking lives was daunting.

Though it wasn't easy, the outcome was satisfactory. It seemed that even with mutated zombies, destroying their heads proved effective—a critical weakness.

Without lingering, he took the axe and continued searching the room.

He found a large backpack, filled it with bottles of water and drinks from the refrigerator, grabbed a few packs of instant noodles and some buns from the kitchen, turned on the gas stove to boil water, and threw frozen meat from the fridge into a pot.

Suddenly, footsteps sounded outside. Yang Mu quickly grabbed his axe and moved cautiously towards the source, finding the couple from the living room standing at the kitchen door.

Their fierce expressions had vanished, replaced by fear.

Yang Mu smiled, realizing they had witnessed his combat with the zombies and were now intimidated by his prowess.

"Now you understand, don't you? The outside is teeming with zombies, and an apocalypse might be imminent. I'm borrowing your food for now. I don't have money on me, but I'll pay you back later."

The couple exchanged glances, understanding that money would be useless in an apocalypse.

They had indeed witnessed Yang Mu's bravery, from his bare-handed climb to the rooftop to the precise noose trap and the subsequent axe strikes that shattered the zombie's head. They had seen it all.

The display of power was intimidating, and they dared not provoke him.

The burly man nudged the woman, who then forced a somewhat strained smile.

"Hello, brother. I'm Hu Lili, and this is my husband, Fang Laosi. We now realize you were trying to help us. There really are zombies... Brother, what should we do? The police lines are down; what can we do?"

Hu Lili looked distressed, with a hint of flattery and anxiety.

Yang Mu recalled how Fang Laosi had pushed Hu Lili aside, letting her fall behind as they went up the stairs.

Is this the apocalypse? Are partners, once joined, now set to part ways?

Wait—no! There's something wrong with Hu Lili and Fang Laosi!